The 120s
104 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 2nd century. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.
120 CE22 entries
- Foss Dyke is constructed in Britain.
- The Scythians dominate western India: Punjab, Sind, the north of Gujarat and a portion of central India.
- The Market Gate of Miletus is built at Miletos (moved in modern times to Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Antikensammlung).
121 CE8 entries
- Roman settlement in present-day Wiesbaden, Germany, is first mentioned.
- Construction of the Temple of Venus and Roma begins in Rome.
- Emperor Hadrian fixes the border between Roman Britain and Caledonia, on a line running from the River Tyne to the Solway Firth.
122 CE5 entries
- Change of era name from Jianguang (2nd year) to Yanguang of the Chinese Eastern Han dynasty.
- Emperor Hadrian orders that a 73-mile (117-kilometer) wall be built to mark the northern Roman Empire while personally visiting the area. Hadrian's Wall, as it comes to be known, is intended to keep the Caledonians, Picts and other tribes at bay.
- Vindolanda, a Roman auxiliary fort (castrum) in northern England, is garrisoned by cohort VIII Batavorum.
123 CE9 entries
- The Chinese government establishes Aide of the Western Regions over the Tarim Basin.
- Emperor Hadrian averts a war with Parthia by a personal meeting with Osroes I (according to the Historia Augusta, disputed).
- Chinese scientist Zhang Heng adjusts the calendar to bring it into line with the four seasons.
124 CE11 entries
- January 1 – Gaius Bellicius Torquatus and Manius Acilius Glabrio begin the year as the new consuls, but the two are replaced in April.
- May – Aulus Larcius Macedo, the former Governor of Galatia; and Publius Ducenius Verres take office for four month as the suffect consuls to succeed Bellicius and Glabrio, and serve until the end of August.
- September – Gaius Valerius Severus and Gaius Julius Gallus replace consuls Larcius and Ducenius and serve until the end of the year.
125 CE17 entries
- Zhang Heng of Han dynasty China invents a hydraulic-powered armillary sphere.
- Plague sweeps North Africa in the wake of a locust invasion that destroys large areas of cropland. The plague kills as many as 500,000 in Numidia and possibly 150,000 on the coast before moving to Italy, where it takes so many lives that villages and towns are abandoned. (or was it around 125 BC)
- Gautamiputra Satakarni, a king of the Andhra dynasty, conquers the Konkan near Bombay. He then controls central India from coast to coast.
126 CE6 entries
- First year of the Yongjian era of the Chinese Han dynasty.
- The old Pantheon is demolished by Emperor Hadrian, and the construction of a new one begins (its date is uncertain, because Hadrian chooses not to inscribe the temple).
127 CE8 entries
- Emperor Hadrian returns to Rome, after a seven-year voyage to the Roman provinces.
- Hadrian, acting on the advice of his proconsul of Asia, Gaius Minicius Fundanus, determines that Christians shall not be put to death without a trial.
- The philosopher Carpocrates rejects ownership of private property as being un-Christian.
128 CE9 entries
- Roman agriculture declines, as imports from Egypt and North Africa depress wheat prices, making it unprofitable to farm, and forcing many farmers off the land.
- Hadrian's Wall is completed in Britain. Built mostly of stone in the east and with a wooden palisade in the west. They construct at least 16 forts, with about 15,000 legionaries digging ditches, quarrying rock and cutting stone, preventing idleness which led to unrest and rebellions in the ranks.
- Roman bakeries produce dozens of bread varieties, and the Romans distribute free bread for the poor.
129 CE9 entries
- Change of Patriarch of Constantinople, from Patriarch Diogenes to Eleutherius.
- A defense for Numidia is constructed at Lambaesis by Legio III Augusta.
- Emperor Hadrian continues his voyages, now inspecting Caria, Cappadocia and Syria.